German “foodwatch”: Lower japanese 500 Bequerel radiation limit for Food to 16 Bequerel!

Dear readers, after I’ve found Chernobyl chanterelles in german supermarkets (namely ALDI, REWE, EDEKA), I informed many facebooks communities and informed german consumer organisation foodwatch. My letter and their answer here:

I did two well visitied articles here, on my blog, along with photos, deep inside Cesium information and some footage I’ve made in Chernobyl irradiated Belarus (where the Chanterelles come from):

Japan allows 500 Bequerel for irradiated food. Belarus even more. NO ONE can controll all food, water, land, air. No one! They export it, they import it, they eat it, and pregnant women and children and infants! I witness it in Belarus, each year.

The nuclear disasters of Chernobyl and Fukushima will have long-term impacts on human health. Food from the affected regions will be radioactively contaminated for many decades. It is the task of European policymakers to protect the health of the population as effectively as possible. The current EU-wide limits for the radioactive contamination of foodstuffs do not guarantee an adequate level of health safety.

The permissible limits are too high: there are no “safe” limits for radioactivity because any dose of radiation, no matter how small, can cause serious diseases like cancer. Therefore, as a precautionary measure, radiation limits for food must be as strict as possible. The current limits, however, are irresponsibly high and tolerate an excessive rate of illness and fatality. They accept, for no good reason, a level of radiation exposure that far exceeds the exposure permitted by the German Radiation Protection Ordinance for normally operating nuclear facilities. Sufficient quantities of foods are available from safe regions. Therefore, there is simply no justification for consuming highly contaminated products from the regions affected by Chernobyl and Fukushima.

Current permissible limits are contradictory: many other countries, including Ukraine and Belarus, which were directly affected by the Chernobyl disaster, have set much stricter limits. The outcome of these policies: foods that are too highly contaminated for sale in these countries can still be imported quite legally by EU Member States and sold within Europe.

The EU has an obligation to act: based on the European fundamental rights, European policymakershave an obligation to minimise human exposure to radiation as much as possible. This is mandated both by the precautionary principle, which is part of the primary legislation of the EU, and by the basic right to life and physical integrity.

I therefore call on you to:

drastically reduce permissible limits for the contamination of foodstuffs with the radionuclide cesium: from the current 370 becquerels per kilogram (or 200 becquerels per kilogram for imports from Japan) to 8 becquerels per kilogram for baby food and milk products, as well as from the current 600 becquerels per kilogram (or 500 becquerels per kilogram for imports from Japan) to 16 becquerels per kilogram for all other foods. These limits would satisfy the requirements of the German Radiation Protection Ordinance, according to which a maximum annual exposure limit of 0.3 millisieverts is permitted from each exposure pathway (i.e. for the emission of radioactive substances from nuclear power plants through air or water). The fact that any dose of radiation, no matter how small, can have serious health consequences is reason enough to question the continued operation and construction of nuclear power plants.

implement zero-tolerance policies for the contamination of foodstuffs with radioactive iodine-131. Given the relatively short half-life of iodine-131, people should not be expected to eat food contaminated with this isotope: many foods can be stored – or, if applicable, frozen – until the isotope has decayed and the foods have become suitable for consumption.

establish a uniform limit system that applies equally to normal and emergency situations. Currently the European Commission has the power to relax the limits for foodstuffs following a nuclear accident – like the recent Fukushima disaster; moreover, the EC can take such action alone, without parliamentary control. This situation must be changed.”

More background on the deadly limit which harms our children and can kill them:

The European Union imports radioactive goods from areas with a maximum of 20 Milli Sievert per Year (official) AND MORE – that’s an equivalent of 50 (!) mammograms! FOR CHILDREN. This is dangerous and irresponsible.

So far had a radioactivity of cesium-134 and cesium-137 have been allowed by a maximum of 600 becquerels per kilogram. Since last weekend the EU limit for food from affected areas in Japan, however, was significantly increased. Consumer organization FoodWatch (web) and the Environment Institute Munich announced in a joint statement, that: For example, should fish oil or spices to their previous value to twenty times higher than what corresponds to 12 500 becquerels per kilogram.

The Consmer Protection Organisation “FOODWATCH” (web) discorvered, that of 8000 examined data 950 have more than 2 microgram of Uranium in one liter – that’s breaking the tolerance limit. Uranium in drinking water is dangerous for babies.

Adding to this: 150 data values are above the limit of 10 (!) microgram per liter. Is this still drinking water?

Worst of all: The German Authorities did not inform the German people about the Uranium in German drinking water – never did.

Only Foodwatch did it.

So, I sent them an E-Mail on August 7th 2008 regarding the shocking news of Uranium in drinking water. This was my Mail:

quote: “From 1st November 2011 in Germany can not flow more water from the tap, which contains more than 10 micrograms of uranium per liter. This is a great step forward for consumers, because so far there was no legal limit. For years foodwatch critical values was made public and called for a limit. Babies and toddlers are so but still not sufficiently protected.”